TEWKSBURY -- Putting their jobs on the line, more than 2,000 Market Basket employees, joined by family members, friends and customers, rallied Friday morning on the grounds of the 71-store chain's Tewksbury headquarters, demanding the return of ousted chief executive Arthur T. Demoulas.

The showdown featured a throng of Market Basket's longest-serving employees gathering on one half of the property, and the chain's newly installed top bosses inside the tinted glass of the corporate building -- well within earshot of the outdoor public-address system -- on the other.

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No red-and-white Market Basket delivery trucks were seen moving during the rally, either entering or leaving the normally busy 875 East St. site, which also serves as the company's warehouse and distribution hub. Friday's shutdown of truck deliveries is likely to leave store shelves in Massachusetts and New Hampshire increasingly bare beginning Saturday afternoon, according to several managers at the rally.

One of the rally leaders, 40-year employee Steve Paulenka, urged employees to "stick together" through the shutdown to force the board of directors to reinstate Demoulas.

"This is a defining moment. All across this country, California, Illinois, Florida, folks have risen up as one many times -- it's nothing new," he told the crowd.

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"But it's always to get rid of somebody. It's never been to bring somebody back."

The podium was adorned by a color portrait of Arthur T. Demoulas, with the caption, "I believe." The rally was loud, yet orderly and nonviolent.

Several senior executives, numerous store managers and hundreds of full-time and part-time employees who attended the rally, including many accompanied by children, wore their familiar work attire of white shirts and ties, and navy-blue Market Basket polo shirts, and name tags declaring number of years employed.

Posters of fired CEO Arthur T. Demoulas were all over at the rally. Many of the signs were handmade. "Artie T. cares, the board does not," one read. "We will not be bullied!" read another.
SUN / BOB WHITAKER

Handmade signs were everywhere, showing loyalty to Arthur T. Demoulas or disdain for the new co-CEOs, Jim Gooch and Felicia Thornton, who were hired last month by the board of directors.

"Artie T. cares, the board does not," one sign read. "We will not be bullied!" read another.

Friday's shutdown of warehouse distribution forced the cancellation of Market Basket's sales circular that normally appears in area newspapers.

"We have confirmed that we will not be receiving files to produce a circular this week," wrote Sue Merrifield of RR Donnelly, the printing company that produces the Sunday sales flyers. "Most of what would be advertised in the flier will not be shipped to the warehouses for distribution due to this rally taking place.

Market Basket employee Rosie Hagopian pumps up the crowd. About two dozen workers climbed a ladder to the makeshift podium to speak.
SUN / BOB WHITAKER

The rally's main speaker, Tom Trainor, Market Basket's distribution supervisor and 40-year employee, said the goal was to encourage the company's 25,000 employees across Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire to force the board of directors to bring back Demoulas.

"What do we do? Do we go home, and hope for the best? No, we shut ... this ... place ... down! We keep these warehouses shut down. We keep no distributions going to these stores," said Trainor, one of about two dozen workers who climbed a ladder to the makeshift podium to speak. "By mid-week next week, the customers will be ringing these phones off the hook, but there won't be anybody to answer the damn phone. That is how we get the board's attention.

A sign in support of ousted CEO Arthur T. Demoulas is held high as a crowd of about 2,000 Market Basket employees and supporters rally at the company's headquarters and distribution center. See videos and slide show at lowellsun.com.
SUN / BOB WHITAKER

And that's how we win this! It is the only chance that we can win this."

Trainor praised the truck drivers and warehouse workers who stopped deliveries to the stores on Friday at the risk of losing their jobs.

"You warehouse employees are great," he said. "I'll go as far as, when this is over, to make sure you guys are made whole again. And truck drivers, we need you more than anyone right now. Every piece of this family needs to stick together and we will win."

Trainor and Paulenka were among several employees who walked out of their offices in the headquarters to join the rally, following through on the ultimatum they had put in writing Wednesday in a letter to Gooch and Thornton demanding that Arthur T. Demoulas be reinstated.

In their letter, the employees said they wanted an answer by Thursday afternoon or they would conduct a walkout Friday morning.

In a letter in reply on Thursday, the co-CEOs said they had forwarded the request for Demoulas' reinstatement to the company's board of directors, which has the authority to hire him back.

Gooch and Thornton also wrote Thursday that they offered to have two employees meet with the board of directors on Monday to talk about their demands. Meanwhile, they said, the company can fire anyone who does not perform their jobs.

"If you choose to abandon your job, or refuse to perform your job requirements, you will leave us no choice but to permanently replace you," wrote Gooch and Thornton. "It is an individual decision whether you wish to continue to work at Market Basket."

The warning prompted a backlash from many at Friday's rally, who declared that they refused to be "threatened" or "bullied."

Media who came from all over New England to cover the rally were kept to the perimeter of the property due to a no-trespass order issued by Market Basket's new management. About a dozen Tewksbury police officers were on hand.

Paulenka, in his speech, pointed out that Market Basket employees had rallied to keep Arthur T. Demoulas as their CEO on the same day, July 18, one year earlier, by lining the street leading to the Wyndham Hotel in Andover, where a directors meeting was taking place. Demoulas and many employees feared he would be fired that day, just weeks after control of the seven-member board shifted from Demoulas to his cousin and rival, Arthur S. Demoulas.

The two sides of the chain's founding family have battled in court for decades.

Arthur T. Demoulas survived the directors meeting a year ago when the board chose to take no action after a 13-hour meeting. But he was removed from the job last month, along with two other longtime executives.

Seven other executives then resigned in protest. In the weeks since, employees at the main Tewksbury office and at stores have been vocal in demanding Demoulas' return.

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